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Shine Lawyers

Law suit against manufacturer heats up

The legal battle against a unit of the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is heating up with existing participants in the legal action urging other people affected by the company’s conduct to, join the fight.

Shine Lawyers is leading the joint US law suit against Depuy (Pron: DA-PEW) Orthopaedics, which engaged in a widespread recall of two of its products in August 2010 due to the products’ high early failure rate.

Unfortunately the product recall came too late for many people, including 230 clients that the law firm is representing nationally.

National law firm Shine Lawyers is assisting people adversely affected by the company’s conduct as part of a group action in the US against the multi-national manufacturer.

“We’re working with a US law firm who has has research suggesting that the impact of the product recall has been particularly significant in Australia more than anywhere else in the world,” Shine Lawyers solicitor Rebecca Jancauskas said.

“It’s completely unconscionable and we’ll be making sure Depuy are held accountable.”

The failure rates for the recalled products have been confirmed at 12-13% (1 in 8). Complaints about the products to the US Food and Drug Administration more than doubled in two years to over 300 in 2009.

Shine Lawyers represents more than 230 clients around the country in the group action and is today one of the leading law firms in Australia.

First Aussie joins artificial hip class action

September 16, 2010

A Brisbane man who is going back under the knife after having a faulty hip replacement is the first in the country to join a United States class action against pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson.

In August, DePuy, an arm of Johnson and Johnson, recalled two versions of its ASR model artificial hip implant due to a high early failure rate.

The recall could affect up to 93,000 people worldwide, with one in every eight recipients requiring a replacement within five years.
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Bob Lugton, 66, is the first Australian to join a group action being brought in the US against the manufacturer.

Mr Lugton, whose health has been severely compromised through leakage of cobalt into his body and degradation of the hip joint, will go under the surgeon’s knife again next month.

Unless he has the second operation, which will be risky in itself, he has been told he will not walk and the hip could snap inside his leg.

But the worrying problem is the high cobalt levels, which for him are 750 per cent above normal levels.

“The cobalt is eating away my bones,” said the grandfather of five.

Shine Lawyers’ solicitor Rebecca Jancauskas, who is representing Mr Lugton, said they expect up to 700 Australians to be affected out of the 5000 implants that have been inserted.

“This has the hallmarks of being one of the biggest medical stuff-ups this country has seen,” Ms Jancauskas said.